Spunk, a play/musical based on three short stories by Zora Neale Hurston and first adapted for the stage in 1990 by acclaimed writer and director George C. Wolfe, will be showing at the Signature Theatre from April 30 through June 23.
Directed by Timothy Douglas, the production combines dance, dialogue, and also puppetry to evoke stories of life exploring the African American experience through the 20th century with a bluesy musical framework.
“An unearthly Guitar Man and Blues Speak Woman tantalizingly interweave three tales of the early 20th century African American experience, from the fierce determination of a resilient washerwoman, to the zoot suit struts of 1940s Harlem, to the bittersweet innocence of young married love,” notes the musical brief, adding that Spunk sets the human ability to endure “to the strums of a guitar in a stirring musical fable.”
SPUNK Comes to Signature Theatre… https://t.co/eQksXTKUNW
— BroadwayWorld DC (@BWW_DC) April 4, 2019
“I – along with this luminous ensemble – have been charged to honor, embrace, and bring authentically to life the smart and lyrical sass of this writer’s Harlem Renaissance heyday – – yet in doing so, it is with an informed theatrical abandon that we surrender to Zora Neale Hurston‘s soulful language, thus allowing her to level up to a 21st Century sensibility, whereby her clear-eyed and sober heroines may proclaim through open throats … ‘Me Too’!”, director Douglas told the Broadway World.
The production features Iyona Blake as Blues Speak Woman, Drew Drake as Folk Man 3, Marty Lamar as Folk Man 2, Ines Nassara as Folk Woman/Delia/Missie, Jonathan Mosley-Perry as Guitar Man, and Ken Yatta Rogers as Folk Man 1.
Chic Street Man has created music for the production, and Mark G. Meadows is responsible for musical direction. Costume design is by Kendra Ray.
The musical runs for two hours and 10 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission. The performance contains strong language and depictions of domestic violence.
Tickets can be booked here.